Leave it to the Marines
by Rising Sun
Summary: Leave it to the Marines... Most people usually do.


Title: Leave it to the Marines 

Author: Rising Sun

Author E-mail: jag@lucianstuff.every1.net

FF Updates: jagrslc-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

FF URL: http://www.geocities.com/jagrslc

Rated: PG-13 

Classification: JAG Story/Adventure/Shipper: Harm/Mac

Summary: Leave it to the Marines… Most people usually do.

Spoilers: Secretes, Rendezvous, To Russia with Love and Gypsy Eyes, People v Rabb, JAG-A-THON, Measure of Men

Disclaimer: JAG characters portrayed belong to JAG, CBS and Paramount Television. No copyright infringement intended. All other characters depicted are purely fictional and any similarities to actual people are purely coincidental.

Author's Notes: The line "Leave it to the Marines… Most people usually do" is taken from the JAG Episode "Secretes" 

Based on an e-mail conversation with Monica La'Shae Chasez 

Feedback: Would be nice.

Story Written November 2001
    
    1305 LOCAL
    
    WAREHOUSE OF THE INTERNATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE RED CROSS (IFRC)
    
    AFGHANISTAN 
    
    Alexandra stood in the threshold of the warehouse and heard the jets coming. The air raids had begun again. The remaining  
     folks who had not yet headed for the hills scattered like wild chickens for shelter.
    
    That is when she saw the child… she scanned the street. The little girl of about five years of age seemed to have no one   
    to claim her; and the bombs were dropping real close today. She made a decision and left the building to grab the child.
    
    The action saved her life.
    
    BOOM!
    
    Debris scattered everywhere. A piece of roofing missed Alexandra and her new charge but not by much; dust rained far and  
     wide and people began to take on an eerie look. That included herself. She looked round. Where she had stood but a  
     few moments ago now revealed a gaping hole. The Red Cross building had been bombed. A myriad of questions occupied  
     her mind - had it been done on purpose? By accident? Who knew? She could not believe that the Allied Forces had bombed   
    the IFRC Warehouse. But there it was or wasn't in this case.
    
    She felt a tug and looked down. The little girl was holding her hand. Alexandra took a deep breath and weighed her options  
     and decided. She joined the exodus that headed for the hills.
    
    ======================================
    
    SAME DAY - 1800 LOCAL  
    
    HARM'S APARTMENT, WASHINGTON DC
    
    "Hey this is new." Mac picked up a photo album.
    
    "You really have not been here in a while." Harm replied. He joined her on the sofa. "I had a number of photos loitering around  
     so I finally sat down one day and placed them in an album."
    
    Mac was flicking through the pages. There were photos of his mom, Mac, JAG folk, Mac, the Admiral, herself at AJ's   
    christening, Harm's graduation photos, Mac, none of Renee, still more of Mac … there was a definite theme here. She kept the   
    thought to herself. Then there was …
    
    "Who is this?" It was a photo of what looked like a young Harm and an older girl, of African American decent. She turned the   
    photo over, it read "Harm and Alexandra at 5 and 10"
    
    "Let me see." He took the picture from her. "I don't know. That is me; but I don't really remember the girl. The setting looks like  
     Grandma Sarah's place. I'll have to ask mom next time we talk."
    
    "Hmmm" Mac sounded and placed the photo back into the album. "I just don't understand."
    
    "Don't understand what?"
    
    "I could have sworn that the invitation said dinner and not family show and tell." She said in mock seriousness.
    
    "Mackenzie! That stomach of yours!" Harm grinned. "One dinner coming up!"
    
    "I never doubted that it would … I just wondered when?"
    
    ======================================
    
    TWO DAYS LATER - 1100 LOCAL
    
    JAG HQ, FALLS CHURCH, VA.
    
    "Hey Mac!" Harm called.
    
    "Hey." She replied.
    
    "I spoke to my mom last night and I remembered to ask about the photo."
    
    "Oh yeah." Mac was curious.
    
    "In your wildest dreams you will never guess…" he was cut across by PO Tiner.
    
    "Excuse me sir, ma'am. Commander Rabb the Admiral wishes to see you ASAP, Commander." He reported.
    
    "Thanks Tiner. Will finish telling you later Mac." 
    
    "Sure."
    
    ======================================
    
    1111 LOCAL
    
    JAG HQ, FALLS CHURCH, VA.
    
    Harm entered his CO's office to hear Admiral AJ Chedwiggen say "What about your operatives Webb. Why do my people  
     always have to be bailing you out!"
    
    "Commander Rabb reporting sir."
    
    "As you were Commander. Have a seat." AJ instructed. "Mr. Webb here wants you to go to Afghanistan with him in an effort to   
    extract an agent called Alexandra." AJ looked at Webb "What no surname Webb?"
    
    "On a need to know basis… and you don't need to know." Webb faced Rabb "I need someone I have worked with before and if   
    needed can pilot a plane. Afghanistan is a war zone you are military a match made in heaven."
    
    "What makes this … Alexandra so important." AJ asked. Rabb was uncharacteristically quiet.
    
    "She has been feeding us information on the movements on the ground. No matter how superior our satellites are they can't take  
     the place of humans on the ground gathering information. She's our best in there and we need her latest report to confirm   
    certain assumptions. The next strike of the Alliance depends on her input."
    
    "If she is THAT important, there is an Army perched on the border of Afghanistan. What makes you so qualified to go in!" AJ   
    demanded.
    
    "She's one of ours. We take care of our own." Webb stated.
    
    Before AJ could bark at Webb, Harm spoke up. "I'll go sir."
    
    Both men stared at him "You will?" Webb asked. "Why?"
    
    "Mr. Webb… you just asked for his assistance now you have it you question it?" AJ said.
    
    Webb shrugged. "We go commercial all the way to Pakistan then by military transport into Afghanistan to her last position which  
     was at the Red Cross Warehouse."
    
    "As in the warehouse that was bombed?" AJ was incredulous.
    
    "The very same." Webb confirmed "Rabb meet me at the British Airways desk at Dulles International in two hours."
    
    Harm nodded, AJ signed and the mission was a go.
    
    ======================================
    
    1246 LOCAL
    
    JAG HQ, FALLS CHURCH, VA.
    
    Mac returned from court to find a short note on her desk.
    
    Mac
    
    Gone to Afghanistan with Webb…
    
    Talk when I get back.
    
    Love Harm
    
    She turned the sheet over to see if she had missed more to the note… but no that was it. She marveled at Rabb. She   
    supposed that she should be grateful he even remembered to leave the note in the first place. 
    
    Love? She shook her head and filed the endearment together with the fact of the number of photos he had of her.
    
    She left the office in search of lunch.
    
    ======================================
    
    11431 LOCAL
    
    EN ROUTE TO HEATHROW - ENGLAND 
    
    Webb had had the good grace to book a first class seat for Harm as well. After all they were traveling together. He had then   
    proceeded to promptly fall asleep leaving Harm to his own thoughts.
    
    [FLASHBACK]
    
    "… which picture is that dear?" Trish asked.
    
    Harm described it.
    
    "That sounds like Alexandra Rabb." She pondered.
    
    "Excuse me did you say Rabb?" 
    
    "Yes dear. She was born long before your father and I met. He mother was from the Caribbean if I remember   
    correctly. Your father met Cassandra when he was on tour, any way Alex that's how we called her. I suppose she uses   
    Alexandra now. Any way Alex stayed with Grandma Sarah, while her mother got herself together, when they moved here. Your   
    Grandmother missed her after she left. If I recall correctly that photo you are talking about was taken by your father."
    
    Harm was flabbergasted. "You are saying that I have a sister out there, somewhere?"
    
    "Yes dear. "
    
    "Why didn't anyone tell me!" He wailed.
    
    "Son you knew her as revealed by the photograph. It never occurred to me that you had forgotten. I assumed that you didn't   
    want to know. Do you want to know?"
    
    "Yes!"
    
    "OK... She had sent me a Christmas card about six years ago. I'll see if I can locate it and supply you with the address if there   
    is any." She arranged.
    
    "Thanks mom." He was relieved.
    
    "It's along shot Harm. I may not find the card and even if I do the address may no longer be valid." She tried to prepare him. She   
    could sense another obsession coming on.
    
    "I know mom… but I have to try."
    
    "I know dear." She changed the topic "So how's Mac?"
    
    "She's fine."
    
    "She's quite the girl isn't she."
    
    "Don't start mom."
    
    [END OF FLASHBACK]
    
    ======================================
    
    1305 LOCAL
    
    ISLAMABAD - PAKISTAN
    
    The City was crawling with military of all ranks, services and countries. If it wasn't a war Harm would have paused and  
     relished the moment. As it were he and Webb were in search of a CIA contact. They finally found him on the northern side of  
     the city.
    
    "Anderson! Why are we chasing you all round town! You were supposed to me us at the office." Webb admonished.
    
    "Sorry Webb." Then tall blonde man replied, "Thought I saw something but was a fools errand."
    
    "This is Commander Harmon Rabb." Webb introduced "Rabb this is Paul Anderson." The men shook hands.
    
    "Any news?" Harm asked.
    
    "We have word of a woman fitting Alexandra's description at a local hospital in Kabul." Anderson revealed.
    
    "She hurt?" Webb asked.
    
    "The Intel does not say."
    
    "How do you know it's her?" Harm asked.
    
    "Not many six foot, gorgeous black women in Afghanistan." Anderson replied.
    
    "Gorgeous you say." 
    
    "Rabb focus!" Webb snapped. "Anderson I'm thinking that we need to go in. If Alex could walk and talk she would not be   
    in a hospital, but heading for the border."
    
    "I concur. If it is her we need to go get her before some bright spark figures out she ain't kosher." He agreed. "On the off   
    chance that you wanted to go that route I have a vehicle loaded up and ready to go."
    
    "We are driving to Kabul." Harm said.
    
    "I suppose you want to fly." Webb asked.
    
    "It would be faster."
    
    "Commander, only certain missions go up. We are not on the list." Anderson explained. "Don't worry, the distance between  
     Islamabad, Pakistan and Kabul, Afghanistan, as the crow flies is about two hundred and thirty two miles. Just a hop, skip  
     and jump."
    
    ======================================
    
    ONE WEEK LATER - 1411 LOCAL

JAG HQ, FALLS CHURCH, VA.

"As you were." AJ said as he entered Mac's office. "Colonel are you aware of Commander Rabb's latest…" he paused searching for the diplomatic term.
    
    "Adventure sir?" she supplied.
    
    "For lack of a better term… yes." 
    
    "I am aware that he is in Afghanistan with Clayton Webb. As to the objective of the mission or the rules of engagement sir –   
    that I do not know."
    
    "Walk with me Colonel."
    
    "Aye sir." She left her desk, fell into stride and followed him to his office. 
    
    Along the way he explained the request from Webb to Rabb. "Now they're missing." He finished as he sat at his desk and   
    waived her into the opposite chair across from him.
    
    "Missing. Sir." She deadpanned.
    
    "Apparently Webb, Rabb and one Anderson left Kabul one week ago in search of this missing CIA agent and have gone missing   
    themselves." He expanded. She sat watching and waiting.
    
    "I'm sending you out there…"
    
    "Sir?" She heard yet was confused.
    
    "Rabb has a talent for trouble. Webb has a talent for getting Rabb into trouble, while you Colonel have a talent for hauling  
     Rabb out of trouble." AJ explained.
    
    "Sir there is a massive collection of military might right there. Why send me?" She countered.
    
    That sounded familiar, AJ smiled, "To paraphrase Webb – he is one of ours. Now go get him Mac. The SECNAV has informed  
     the US Commander in Chief out there, they will be waiting for you. If needed you will have the backing of the Marine Force  
     Recon Unit of the Second Reconnaissance Battalion." 
    
    She frowned that sounded familiar. "The Second Reconnaissance Battalion, sir?"
    
    "Gunny's unit." He said, "You are going via London, then Berlin and into Islamabad. You have three hours to report to Dullas.   
    Any questions?"
    
    "No sir."
    
    "Dismissed."
    
    "Aye Sir!" She snapped to and left.
    
    ======================================
    
    ONE WEEK EARLIER
    
    1503 LOCAL
    
    LOCAL HOSPITAL – KABUL
    
    Harm and Webb stood and watched as Anderson talked with the Nurse, once done he led them out to the courtyard.
    
    "He said that she had been there but only to deliver a child." Anderson reported.
    
    "Deliver a child?" Harm misunderstood. 
    
    "Not that kind of deliver Commander." Anderson assured him. "Apparently she found a little girl, didn't know what to do with  
     her so she brought her here."
    
    "Now what!" Harm demanded. This was rescue was going nowhere fast!
    
    "She headed for the border." Webb stated.
    
    "… and you know this because?" Harm asked.
    
    "Those are her instructions." He replied.
    
    "This thing with the kid must have delayed her." Anderson speculated.
    
    "By a week!" Harm replied. "If she was expected at a rendezvous by a certain time and knew the fallout from not making it…  
     they why get side lined by this!"
    
    "You can ask her when you meet her." Webb replied.
    
    "Wait here I'm going for the jeep." Anderson instructed.
    
    Webb and Harm stood in silence for a moment. "You know don't you." Webb accused.
    
    "Know what." Harm was playing dumb.
    
    "Don't give me that. You are never eager to go on one of my missions. You arrive kicking and screaming, execute it under  
     duress and when it's over you can't wait to get away from me." Webb counted off.
    
    "That's on a need to know basis … you don't need to know." Harm assured him.
    
    "Maybe that's because I know already."
    
    "Maybe you do and maybe you don't" Harm replied, this was fast deteriorating into a schoolyard argument. Webb turned   
    and glared at him. "OK assuming that we are on the same wavelength – why did you not say? I asked you for a surname but got  
     none from you. I am working under a distinct assumption here that may be way off base."
    
    Webb had pity on him. "For reasons best known to her she doesn't like folks to know who she is. The name is infamous   
    I suppose and in our line of work the less spotlight the better."
    
    "So she is …" Harm dared not say it.
    
    "So that we are on the same wavelength I will say this only once. Her name is Alexandra Rabb. There I've said it. She reminds  
     me much of Mac. If she knows I told you she'll have my hide and I fear her more than I do Chedwiggen." 
    
    Harm wanted more but the sound of a firearm being armed stopped him.
    
    ======================================
    
    2213 LOCAL
    
    CIA OPERATIONS CENTER
    
    ISLAMABAD - PAKISTAN
    
    Mac had reported in and was now at the operations center for the CIA. She stepped in and came face to face with a tall African   
    American woman.
    
    She looked vaguely familiar. "I'm Colonel Sarah Mackenzie." Mac introduced herself.
    
    "Alexandra" the woman replied.
    
    Mac did a double take. "Excuse me?"
    
    "Alexandra" she repeated.
    
    "Didn't Clayton Webb come out here to rescue you?" Mac asked.
    
    "Yes. The little twit. I've been here waiting for you as it seems you and I have to go in and get the three stooges." She  
     complained "Marine Colonel right?" she looked at the uniform."
    
    "Yep."
    
    "Leave it to the Marines, huh?" Alexandra said
    
    "Most people usually do." Mac replied. 
    
    "Yes they do."
    
    Mac picked up on the semantic "You a Marine?" 
    
    "Former. Based at Camp Le Jeune."
    
    "No such thing as a former Marine; Alexandra" Mac grinned.
    
    "Call me Alex everyone else does."
    
    "Mac"
    
    "Mac it is. I figure that we will head out at first light."
    
    "Sounds right. You are familiar with the place do we need back up? I have at under my command the Second Reconnaissance  
     Battalion."
    
    Alex paused. "Just one extra. Three of us should do it. Too many and we'll be spotted. I don't suppose that you speak Arabic."
    
    "I speak Farsi." Mac replied in Farsi.
    
    "Great… I do too so if we get stopped then at least one of us can fast talk." Alex was happy, "For once the right person is sent  
     to do the job."
    
    "I thank you… I think." Mac grinned back. There was something about the woman that appealed.
    
    "Well that's it for the moment. We'll meet back here at 0400. With the fall of Kabul it shouldn't be too difficult to move about and  
     find them."
    
    ======================================
    
    1115 LOCAL
    
    HOSPITAL COURTYARD – KABUL
    
    Alex returned to the jeep.
    
    "Well?" Mac demanded.
    
    "The comedy of errors gets worse." She reported.
    
    "Not possible ma'am" Gunnery Sergeant Victor Galindez stated.
    
    "Wait till you hear. Rabb and Webb were waiting in the courtyard for Anderson when a couple of youths took them hostage."
    
    "They weren't that young." A voice said.
    
    The three Marines focused in the direction of the voice. Anderson stepped out. "Andy!" Alex shouted and hugged him.  
     "What the hell happened!"
    
    "As you said they were grabbed. Right there." He pointed.
    
    Mac shook her head. "CIA and NAVY and they still get grabbed."
    
    "Andy meet Marine Colonel Sarah MacKenzie and Marine Gunnery Sergeant Victor Galindez." Alex introduced. "Folks this   
    is Paul Anderson fellow officer."
    
    "Ah the Marines to the rescue, you are in your element Alex." He teased, "Did she tell you that she was a Marine?"  
    
      
    
    
    
    "She did." Mac replied.
    
    "As were you." Alex revealed.
    
    "Oh ma'am Commander Rabb will never live this down. Saved by the Corps." Gunny grinned.
    
    She beamed back at him "You can bet he'll never forget it. Cause I won't let him."
    
    "Andy did you see where they took them? In fact any reason to grab them in the first place?" Alex had her opinion on the matter  
     but wanted to hear Anderson's thoughts.
    
    "One of two reasons. One – the American's are leading this war so let's get a couple; or two – rich Yankee syndrome." 
    
    "Sounds right but I am inclined to the latter." Alex said.
    
    "So am I." Anderson agreed.
    
    "Rich Yankee syndrome?" Gunny asked.
    
    "It is assumed that all American's have money so once they heard the Yankee accent they grabbed them for ransom." Mac   
    explained.
    
    "Hu huh." Gunny absorbed the new bit information. He whispered to Mac "They may have hit the jack pot too ma'am."
    
    "I know." She replied.
    
    "We'll have to wait till dark to go in." Anderson explained. "This snatch had no planning and it should be easy to go in and get  
     them."
    
    "It's the ad hoc plans that give the most problems sir." Gunny grumbled.
    
    "May I suggest we eat in the mean time?" Mac suggested.
    
    ======================================
    
    1511 LOCAL
    
    IN A CAVE
    
    SOMEWHERE OUTSIDE OF KABUL
    
    "I will NEVER live this down." Harm groaned.
    
    'I suppose you think I am happy with this?" Webb said testily 
    
    "Came out here to save my sister … God knows where she is. I don't know if I will live to see tomorrow and I'm stuck here with  
     you." Harm complained.
    
    "Oh well thank you." Webb got serious "Rabb we need a plan."
    
    "Yeah. These folks seem to be working to no set plan. I say we wait till dark and make a run for it."
    
    "That's your plan? These folks are armed and plan or not they can plan to shoot us." Webb was dismayed.
    
    "You got a better one?"
    
    "As a matter of fact … yes. Anderson will find us. He saw what happened he must have followed. All we have to do is wait."
    
    Harm snorted. "That is no plan."
    
    "And yours is?" Webb countered.
    
    "At least my plan calls for us to take action and not just sit here!"
    
    A guard shouted at them. They may not have understood the words but the tone left no doubt as to what was wanted - be quiet.
    
    Harm moved over to Webb's side of the space. "You listen to me I didn't come on this fools errand with you only to get  
     caught by amateurs and die in the process."
    
    "Get a grip Rabb as usual you're being driven by emotions and those emotions are going to get us killed." Webb tried   
    to reason.
    
      
    
    Harm replied, "You can quit. I can't. My sister is out there somewhere and I'm going to find her."
    
    "Or die trying." Webb said.
    
    "Or die trying." Harm replied.
    
    ======================================
    
    2215 LOCAL
    
    OUTSIDE THE CAVE
    
    SOMEWHERE OUTSIDE OF KABUL
    
    With Anderson leading; the group of Marines approached the cave. Luck was giving fifty/fifty odds, as there was a full moon  
     that night, however the cave was disguised by brush. Under normal conditions this would have made excellent  
     concealment for the cave. This night the camouflage worked for the Marines.
    
    They split into two groups. Alex and Anderson, Mac and Victor. 
    
    Gunny was responsible for the first causality. As the guard crossed his path he reached over held him by the chin and head   
    and snapped his neck. Mac looked across and saw Anderson in the process of dispatching another guard.
    
    They continued their approach.
    
    "Mohammed!" A voice immediately in front of Mac called.
    
    The group froze.
    
    "Mohamed!" The caller repeated.
    
    "Must be one of the guards." Alex whispered to Anderson.
    
    "Mac will have to handle that one." As he made the observation they watched as her hands darted out, there was a flash   
    and the caller fell, lifeless.
    
    Gunny looked at Mac with increased admiration. He'd never seen her in this role before. The evacuation of the Embassy in   
    Malaysia had not called for this kind of action. She executed it as trained.
    
    She misinterpreted his look. "I'll deal later." 
    
    "As will we all, ma'am," he replied he turned and continued toward the cave.
    
    ======================================
    
    2220 LOCAL
    
    IN A CAVE
    
    SOMEWHERE OUTSIDE OF KABUL
    
    "Mohamed!" There was no reply.
    
    "Mohamed!" still reply.
    
    The silence that followed the second call placed Harm on the alert. "Webb."
    
    "Yeah I heard. Something is happening out there."
    
    "Anderson?"
    
    "Maybe." Webb replied.
    
    "Be prepared to fly or fight." Harm instructed.
    
    Webb nodded grimly.
    
    ======================================
    
    2225 LOCAL
    
    OUTSIDE THE CAVE
    
    SOMEWHERE OUTSIDE OF KABUL
    
    There seemed to have been only three guards outside but on the off chance there were more on the inside the team moved  
     cautiously. First Anderson, followed by Mac, then Alex and bringing in the rear was Victor.
    
    The group was soon under attack. Anderson in the lead was the first to be assaulted. Victor leaped in to aid in the struggle.
    
    As the two dealt with the attacker Mac was grabbed from behind. She automatically knelt dragging her assailant over her   
    shoulder, landing him on the ground and she positioned herself to plunge her knife into him. 
    
    "Mac! No! It's me Harm!" He shouted and squirmed.
    
    Her adrenaline was pumping, she was in battle mode and the kill action was in full motion. Her arm went up and the knife  
     flashed as the descent motion began until Alex kicked the knifed from her hand. Mac looked at Alex with blood in her eyes. 
    
    Just as it quickly as it had cranked up the adrenaline rush slowed down and the blood lust receded. She whipped round   
    "Harm! Oh God Harm! I could have killed you! What is the matter with you!" She yelled.
    
    "Where is Webb." Alex demanded.
    
    "Here." Anderson picked up what looked like the remains of a rag doll.
    
    "Webb?" Alex asked.
    
    "Yeah it's me."
    
    "Why'd you attack us!" Anderson demanded.
    
    "Why not!" Harm demanded. "We didn't know what the hell was going on out there and it was a chance of maybe escaping!"
    
    "So much for that thought." Alex said.
    
    "Before life gets complicated… I think we should leave." Mac said.
    
    Harm winked at her. "Oh, my goodness. The Admiral sent Sarah Mackenzie."
    
    "You nervous already?" She countered.
    
    "And why would I be nervous?"
    
    "Cause I nearly killed you Squid!"
    
    "But you didn't, you wouldn't you couldn't." He grinned at her as they moved out of the cave toward the point where they had   
    hidden their vehicle.
    
    + + + 
    
    They finally got into the vehicle and the six climbed in. 
    
    "At least it has leg room." Harm muttered as he checked the tires just to be sure the comedy of errors didn't continue.
    
    "Rabb what do you think you are doing!" Webb snapped at him.
    
    "What do you think!" Alex snapped back "Oh sorry you meant him." 
    
    Mac stared. "Rabb?!"
    
    Harm's head popped up at her window. "Later jarhead." He whispered.
    
    ======================================
    
    0020
    
    EN ROUTE TO ISLAMABAD
    
    They took turns at driving and navigating, while the others rested. Soon the combination became that of Harm and Alex.
    
    "So." Harm said.
    
    "So." Alexandra replied.
    
    He took a deep breath to clear his cobwebs. "What happened?"
    
    She knew what he meant, "I could ask you the same thing. We were kids Harm, kids don't keep in touch adults do."
    
    "… and now?"
    
    "I don't know. We are strangers nearing the end of a mission." 
    
    He faced her as she drove. "We are related. I would like to get to know you as my sister and not as a stranger nearing the   
    end of a mission."
    
    He watched her as she relaxed. Not knowing what he wanted, she had been tense from the beginning of the conversation.   
    "Now what."
    
    "We talk big sister." He flashed his flyboy grin at her. The grin deepened as she flashed the grin right back at him. "I would   
    know you as mine any where."
    
    "As yours? Possessive no?"
    
    "That grin is pure Rabb, you have the height, the general slim build, the integrity and you do have the Rabb look. It's easier to  
     see in me I am male but you have it." Then He prompted "Tell me about yourself." Harm was hungry for information.
    
    "What do you know?" she asked.
    
    "Your mom met my Dad … sorry our Dad while he was on tour in the Caribbean. You stayed with Grandma Sarah for a while …  
     that's when the photo was taken. That's all I know."
    
    "That sounds right. What else is there to tell?"
    
    "Well for one thing what happened between them." He said. She shot him an amused look. "Apart from that."
    
    "Ok ok… My mom was a nurse in Saint Lucia and from what I have been able to piece together she and Dad were quite the   
    item." She digressed "Ever try to get info out of your mother about her love life?" He shook his head; "Try it. It would be easier  
     for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle. Any way I digress. Our Dad wasn't a girl in every port kind of guy…  
     apparently it was one lady at a time for him. Rare I must say. Anyway, mom got pregnant and he proposed."
    
    Harm waited but she said nothing. "That it? Oh come on! Don't make me beg." He whined.
    
    "Harm! You are doing the little brother act too easily." She grinned. "Isn't it obvious that they didn't marry? I suppose you   
    want the details."
    
    "Of course."
    
    She resumed the tale "She turned him down. According to her; marriage had never entered the man's head until there was   
    a baby to contend with, and she was not about to marry a man for that. If he didn't want her then, then she certainly was no  
     charity case to be taken on board because of a pregnancy."
    
    Harm was absorbing the tale like blotting paper to water.
    
    "He made arrangements for me to carry his name. Soon after I was born mom moved to the States, with me in tow. Dad kept  
     tabs on me, but that aspect of the relationship between them died. Then he met Trish. My mom went back to school to become a doctor. When the pressure of medical school and raising me began to overwhelm her, Dad took me to stay with Grandma Sarah. I really enjoyed my stay there; you came over a couple of times with Dad. Somewhere along the line that photo was taken. I went back to New York when mom graduated, you were in California, Dad went MIA and the ties that bind were cut. End of story." She concluded.
    
    "… and you and I missed an opportunity." He sighed. "I eventually found him."
    
    "I know. Him and a bit more."
    
    "I was about to ask how you knew, but you are CIA, of course you know. Particularly if you work with Webb."
    
    "Through no fault of his own an honorable man ends up with three children by three different women. Someone not knowing  
     the story would mistake him for a cad." She said. "So you and Sergei followed him and became pilots."
    
    "Yeah."
    
    "I went military too but Marines."
    
    He groaned. "It's bad enough that Mac and Gunny of the Marine Corps saved me but you too?"
    
    "Oh it gets worse. Anderson is ex-Marine too."
    
    "Oh I will never live this down."
    
    "Of that you can be assured little brother."
    
    "We must find a way for the three of us to spend time together." Harm suggested.
    
    "The logistics will be hell. One JAGman, one CIA Agent and one Russian Officer on active duty in a war zone… let me check   
    my diary and we'll do lunch." She teased.
    
    ======================================
    
    0210
    
    EN ROUTE TO ISLAMABAD
    
    Mac drove Harm navigated. "Rabb?!" she repeated her query. "She's a Rabb?!"
    
    "That is what I was about to tell you that morning but I never had the chance. The girl in that photo was Alex."
    
    "I knew that she looked familiar but I couldn't place where I had seen her." Mac confessed.
    
    Harm proceeded to repeat the conversation he had had with his mother and Alex herself.
    
    "That is some story flyboy." She said as he concluded.
    
    "Tell me something I don't know ninja girl."
    
    "Now what?"
    
    "Well I'd like to get to know her but that may not be possible."
    
    "Why!" She demanded.
    
    "She is barely in DC her job keeps her out here…"
    
    "Crap and you know it." She interrupted. "Work it out."
    
    "Yes ma'am"
    
    ======================================
    
    NEXT DAY 
    
    MARRIOTT HOTEL ISLAMABAD
    
    MAC'S ROOM
    
    Mac was stepping out of the shower when she heard the knock on her door. Great! She wrapped herself in a robe  
     and dried her hair as she headed towards the door. There was a knock again. "Coming!" She opened the door.
    
    There stood Harm.
    
    "You don't call … you don't write." She said.
    
    "Can we talk?" he said.
    
    She swung the door open and let him in. He just stood and stared.
    
    When Mac had opened the door Harm was not expecting to see her dripping wet in a robe and still drying her hair. She looked  
     great, but then as far as he was concerned Mac looked great in rags. He stood there basking in her presence and he had no  
     desire to be anywhere else.
    
    "Harm" She said. No reply. "Harm." She repeated more forcibly. [What is wrong with him?] She wondered.
    
    "Huh? Oh sorry Mac. My mind was wandering there for a minute."
    
    "You came to say something?" she prompted.
    
    "Umm yes. Umm thanks for the rescue." He said.
    
    "You are entirely welcome, you would have done the same for me." She replied.
    
    "Mac about the things Alex said in the bar earlier…" He began.
    
    Mac waived her hand, "Forget about it Harm. You and she are really becoming a family and family tease each other  
     mercilessly or so I am told. Forget it you and I know that we are friends and partners."
    
    "… but." He fumbled.
    
    "But?" she echoed.
    
    "She was right." He confessed.
    
    Mac slowly sat on the edge of her bed. She could feel a headache luring in the background and hot on it's heels heartache.  
     "Harm my life is where I want it at the moment don't do this."
    
    He moved over to her and genuflected. "I was wrong after the JAG-A-THON to say that we were at an end."
    
    He was eye to eye with her. "But we didn't end we picked up the pieces of our friendship and so far we have been ok." She   
    assured him.
    
    "You are happy with OK? Tell me what you're feeling."  
    
      
    
    "At this time of night? Pressured. Why are you doing this?"
    
    "Because I didn't do it in Australia, I didn't do it on the Admiral's porch, I didn't do it on the USS Guadalcanal and a woman I met   
    less than twenty four hours ago has spotted what I have known but never faced."
    
    [Oh yes.] She thought [There was defiantly a headache luring in the background, hand in hand with heartache. It was only a   
    matter of time, which one arrived first.] "Then as now you still cannot say what is on your mind. So if you don't mind I am not  
     about to overhaul my life for you. I need my sleep. Good night Harm."
    
    "I do mind."
    
    "Hello!" she snapped.
    
    "I do mind Mac. I do mind that we have done this dance. You were right about that." He said.
    
    [Patience] she prayed. "Harm. "It is 0135 I am tired I want to rest. So please close the door on your way out."
    
    "You asked me once what I was willing to give up for you." He was on a roll and before his courage gave out he would say   
    what he came to say even if he died in the process. Which was very likely considering whom he was dealing with. "You didn't  
     stay to hear the answer. So here it is. You name it … I will give it up."
    
    Her jaw dropped.
    
    "Name in Mac. My career … my life you name it. I will give it up."
    
    She gathered her wits and said "Why … why now. Why here."
    
    "Alex." He replied promptly "There are advantages to having an older sister. We are new at it but we have taken to it with a  
     vengeance. After you left us in the bar my dear sister has made a few valid points that cannot be ignored. Chief among them  
     is that I love you. Everyone knows it, the only person I was fooling was myself and the only people being hurt were you and I."
    
    "I don't know you. Who are you and what have you done with my partner?" She asked. 
    
    He smiled. "I want to be your partner Sarah." With the use of her name he sensed her focus sharpen. "Not just at JAG but   
    everywhere."
    
    The headache arrived first. She rubbed her temples. "Harm I have been down this road before."
    
    "Mac didn't you hear me? I love you. Name it and I will give it up! What more…" she stopped him.
    
    She'd heard wrong. "What did you say?" she was stunned.
    
    "I knew it flew by you the first time," He smiled; "…so listen up for the third time. Mac I love you." He said gently.
    
    She just stared at him. She was scared. A Marine Colonel. She had just killed a man to rescue this man and now she was   
    sacred. "Lord help me." She whispered.
    
    Harm heard and assured her. "He will Sarah. Let me in and he will help us both."
    
    The nod was slight. Almost imperceptible but Harm was looking for a sign and caught it. He straightened up and leaned to kiss  
     her, but paused. He wasn't about to force himself on her. She smiled at him "Leave it to the Marines… " She closed the   
    gap between them and they kissed.
    
    [Most people usually do.] Harm thought.
    
    THE END.


End file.
